PCS-TMo Cagey About iPhone; Promise Superior LTE

By Tiernan Ray

In a conference call this morning hosted by MetroPCS (PCS) and Deutsche Telekom‘s (DTEGY) T-Mobile USA unit to discuss the announcement of a recapitalization of PCS that will combine the two companies into one, executives were peppered with a number of questions, including the importance of Apple‘s (AAPL) iPhone.

Executives said they intend to have an aggressive roll-out of the “Long Term Evolution,” or LTE, flavor of 4G wireless that will provide “a superior experience” compared to LTE from Verizon Communications (VZ) and AT&T (T) and Sprint-Nextel (S).

When talk turned to the iPhone, executives were cagey, emphasizing that for the moment, they can serve any iPhone that’s nominally made for AT&T’s network, by adding a T-Mo SIM:

A few things. Clearly, the post-paid side of the business is critical … there’s a number of pieces here .. our plan had been to stabilize that piece of the business in ’13, grow in ’14. I think that’s the best way to think about this. That will be driven in a number of ways. I don’t want to underestimate DT’s strong statement about our commitment to this market, that’s a big factor in customer choice. The network will be a significant part of our brand and message. It is clearly our desire to have a full portfolio of devices … I’m not going to speculate on any other aspects of any deal other than this one … I’m one of the customers that uses several devices … we support bring your own phone, and you can put an “i” in front of that, that will provide a superior network opportunity … we are going to progressively launch LTE … we want to have a full set of devices but in a situation that is complementary to our shareholders.

PCS shares are down 87 cents, or 6.4%, at $12.70. Shares of cellular operator Leap Wireless (LEAP), which had been postulated as a possible takeout target before today’s deal, are down $1.13, or 15%, at $6.46.

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